Three days that walk the four plazas of Habana Vieja, ride a 1950s convertible out to Vedado and Fusterlandia, and end on the Cabaña walls for the nine o'clock cannon. Written for the Havana of 2026, which runs on cash, patience and a casa host who knows when the power is on.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
November to April is dry and 75 to 82°F (24 to 28°C), and the blackouts bite less when nobody needs a fan. December and the week of Easter are the busy, pricey weeks. May to October is hot, humid and stormy; August to October is hurricane season and the months when the power cuts run longest.
A casa particular, a licensed room in a family home, is how to stay: US$25 to 50 a night with breakfast, booked through Airbnb or by WhatsApp with the host. For US travelers it is also the only lodging that fits the rules, since the big state hotels sit on the US Prohibited Accommodations List. Ask three questions before you book: is there a generator or inverter, is there a water tank on the roof, and is there wifi. Habana Vieja puts everything on foot; Vedado is leafier, quieter and ten minutes by taxi.
Walk Habana Vieja and Centro Habana; everything else is a taxi. Yellow state taxis and private cars quote in dollars (US$10 to 15 across town); agree the price before you get in and pay in pesos or dollars, whichever you agreed. Shared almendrones, the old American cars on fixed routes along Neptuno and Calle 23, cost a few hundred CUP a seat. Fuel shortages in 2026 mean fewer cars and firmer prices; your casa host's driver is the reliable option for the airport and the beach.
Habana Vieja · 90 min
Start in the oldest square while the second-hand booksellers set up. The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales on its west side is the city museum, with the throne room Spain never used and the wooden street outside, laid so the governor would not hear the hooves.
Habana Vieja · 75 min
Two squares five minutes apart down Oficios and Mercaderes: San Francisco has the basilica and the cruise terminal, Plaza Vieja the restored arcades and the camera obscura. Hustlers work both; a firm no gracias is the whole conversation.
Habana Vieja · 45 min
Ten minutes north along Mercaderes to the baroque cathedral and the smallest of the four plazas. Step inside if the doors are open; the facade is worth a look either way.
Habana Vieja · 75 min
In the dead-end Callejón del Chorro off the cathedral square, open daily from noon. Order the ropa vieja, the tostones rellenos and a frozen mojito, and arrive before one or put your name down and walk the alley.
Centro Habana · 60 min
Twenty minutes west along Obispo to the domed capitol, restored in 2019. Guided visits run on set days (listings say Tuesday to Saturday, around US$20), so ask at the ticket desk; the gold-leaf hall and the diamond in the floor are the reasons to go in.
Centro Habana · 60 min
The Gran Teatro Alicia Alonso runs short daytime tours of the auditorium and marble stairs when there is no rehearsal. Parque Central opposite is where the convertibles wait and the baseball arguments happen under the Martí statue.
Centro Habana · 90 min
Walk the marble promenade north under the laurels to the sea, then west along the Malecón wall as the city sits down on it. Sunset is around 6:30 p.m. in winter and after 8 p.m. in June.
Centro Habana · 120 min
Up the ruined staircase at Concordia 418 in Centro Habana, the paladar where Strawberry and Chocolate was filmed. Book days ahead on its website, expect US$40 or more a head in dollars or euros, and ask for the roof terrace.
Jaimanitas, Playa · 75 min
A 30-minute taxi west to Jaimanitas, where José Fuster has tiled his house, his neighbors' walls and the bus stop in mosaic. It opens around 9:30 a.m., so leave at 9 a.m. to arrive first; agree a round trip with waiting, around US$30 to 40 per car.
Vedado · 75 min
Back east into Vedado, 20 minutes by taxi, to a huge cemetery of marble avenues, the firefighters' monument and the line of locals at La Milagrosa touching her tomb. Foreigners pay a small ticket at the Zapata gate, and a guide at the gate is worth it for an hour.
Vedado · 30 min
A ten-minute walk north to the Martí memorial tower, the Che on the Interior Ministry and the Camilo Cienfuegos opposite. Thirty minutes is enough, longer if the tower elevator is running (a separate ticket in CUP).
Centro Habana · 90 min
Ten minutes by taxi into Centro Habana, San Rafael 469, the paladar that fed the Obamas in 2016: the lamb San Cristóbal and malanga fritters in a room full of saints and clocks. Around 4,000 CUP a head; closed Sunday.
Habana Vieja · 75 min
The Cuban building on Trocadero, three floors from colonial portraits to Wifredo Lam and the 1980s. Closed Monday and shut at 2 p.m. on Sunday; the Museo de la Revolución behind it has been under restoration, so check whether its rooms are open.
Malecón · 60 min
Pick a convertible on Avenida de las Misiones outside the museum or at Parque Central. The going rate is about US$40 per car for an hour, agreed before you sit down, looping the Malecón to the Hotel Nacional and back; ask to be dropped at the Nacional.
US$40 per car
Vedado · 60 min
Walk through the lobby to the lawn above the Malecón for a mojito on the terrace as the light goes, among the peacocks and cannons. It is a state hotel on the US Prohibited Accommodations List, so US travelers cannot sleep there; a drink in the garden is not lodging.
Vedado · 90 min
Ten minutes by taxi to Calle 26 at 11, a rooftop paladar in an old cooking-oil factory chimney next door to Fábrica de Arte. Grilled fish and pork, open daily from noon to midnight in CUP; book, or arrive by 7:30 p.m. to sit upstairs.
Vedado · 150 min
Galleries, concerts, cinema and dance floors across the factory, normally Thursday to Sunday from 8 p.m. until around 2 a.m. and closed at times; it was reported shut temporarily in June 2026, so confirm it is open. The line is long by 10 p.m., so go straight from dinner; otherwise the Buena Vista veterans' show at El Guajirito on Zulueta is the swap.
Playas del Este · 150 min
Havana's beach, 25 km east: a 30 to 40 minute taxi at around US$30 each way, so agree a pick-up time. Swim early before the sun and the music arrive; if sand is not your thing, do the Morro and Cabaña now and come back for the cannon.
Centro Habana · 90 min
On a Sunday the alley of murals in Cayo Hueso fills for the rumba at noon, with drums and Santería dancers until about 3 p.m.; free, so tip the musicians. Day 3 works best on a Sunday, and on another day it is still worth a quiet look at the murals.
Vedado · 90 min
A 15-minute walk up past the university to Calle 13 between F and G: a farm-to-table paladar with its own finca and fresh pasta, open Sundays, with prices posted in dollars. On a weekday, San Cristóbal (day two) is the closer choice.
Habana del Este · 150 min
A 20-minute taxi through the harbor tunnel. Climb the Morro lighthouse for the whole city across the water, then walk ten minutes to the Cabaña, the largest Spanish fort in the Americas, with separate tickets at each gate in CUP.
Habana Vieja · 90 min
Ten minutes back through the tunnel to Mercaderes 207, up the stairs strewn with petals, where a trio plays son and boleros. Pork in plum sauce and the seafood platter, around 10,000 CUP a head; tell them you are leaving by 8:30 p.m..
Habana del Este · 45 min
Back across the tunnel to the Cabaña, where soldiers in 18th-century uniform march the ramparts by torchlight and fire the cannon at 9 p.m.. Be inside by 8:40 p.m.; there is a separate evening entry ticket, and yes, you cross the tunnel twice.
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José Martí airport (HAV) is 20 km south-west of the center; flights from the United States use Terminal 2, most other international flights Terminal 3. A taxi to Habana Vieja or Vedado takes 30 to 45 minutes and costs US$25 to 35, agreed before you get in and payable in dollars or euros; your casa host will send a driver for about the same, which is the easier arrival after dark in a blackout. The CADECA desk in the arrivals hall changes cash at the official floating rate; ATMs there do not take US cards.
About US$80 to 120 a day per person in cash for a paladar lunch and dinner, museum tickets, a couple of taxis and a mojito; La Guarida, the classic car (US$40 per car) and a show night add US$40 to 80. Carry at least a third more than you plan to spend, because there is no way to get more.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Violent crime against visitors is rare and the hustle is verbal. The hard parts are logistics: cash only, power cuts of many hours, water that depends on the pump, and shortages of medicine and fuel. Travelers who book a casa with a generator, carry what they need and keep a flexible schedule have a good trip; those expecting a resort do not.
All three. Paladares and taxis quote in dollars and take euros at a fair rate; markets, buses, museums and most small purchases are in CUP. Change a little at the airport CADECA for the first taxi and the tickets, then have your host change more at the street rate. Dollars and euros in small notes go furthest; a 100 note is hard to break.
Day two, with the museums, the cemetery and the car (the convertibles have roofs and the drivers raise them). Move the beach to a dry day and keep the Cabaña, which has arcades to shelter under for the cannon; Waystop's Chat can build that as a rain plan you switch to.
It normally opens Thursday to Sunday, takes breaks between seasons and was reported closed temporarily in June 2026. On other nights the Buena Vista Social Club veterans play El Guajirito on Zulueta 658 every evening from 9:30 p.m., from about US$36 with three drinks, or ask your host for the week's live music at Casa de la Música in Miramar.
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Havana. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.